Bill Clinton: “2000 Reception September 22, 1999 Thank you very much. You have to give me 2 seconds to recover myself; Ann Richards…”

“2000 Reception September 22, 1999 Thank you very much. You have to give me 2 seconds to recover myself; Ann Richards just told me a joke. [Laughter] I've got to collect myself here. [Laughter] I'll be quite brief tonight, first because I'm hoarse, and secondly, because you're all hungry, and thirdly, because I want to listen to the Vice President. But I want to say a few things, beginning with thank you. Thank you for being here; thank you for supporting his campaign; thank you for giving the good things that we have done these last 8 years a chance to be the springboard for positive change in America. You know, a lot of people have forgotten that when Vice President Gore and I went out across the country in 1992, we were in the worst recession since the Great Depression. We had a lot of division in our society that was complicated by the previous administration's vetoes of the Brady bill, which is now the law, and the family and medical leave bill, which is now the law. And we asked the American people to give us a chance to put them first and to take a new direction. And the results are clear: We've had the lowest unemployment, welfare rolls, and crime rates in a generation, and the longest peacetime expansion in history. So the question facing the American people now is not, as it is often put, do we need a change? The answer is, yes, we do. The question is not will we change? The question is how are we going to change?…”